Stainless steel tensile structures – such as green facades and walls and lightweight fall-protection barriers – can decrease a building’s carbon footprint in several ways.
These include through reduced material usage and construction waste, greater natural daylight, improved thermal performance, and support of renewable energy systems.
The benefit of tensile structures for better sustainability
At Tensile Design, we largely use Jakob materials for tensile structure projects, including stainless steel wire rope cables and Webnet mesh.
These materials have a light, filagree-like profile but are highly robust with excellent longevity of around 25 years or more, and low maintenance needs. They are also flexible and malleable, making them adaptable to all kinds of applications, including those that are unique or involve complex geometric shapes.
Here are some of the ways the features of these materials can reduce environmental impact in buildings.
- Lower material usage – the high strength-to-weight ratio and large span capacity of Webnet means that less material is often required to achieve the same result as with glass or timber. This can also lead to lower energy use and costs, such as for transport and labour.
- Reduced wastage – the excellent longevity of stainless steel tensile materials lowers the need for replacements and helps reduce material wastage over the years. These materials can also be recycled after use, which reduces waste even further.
- Natural daylighting – being so transparent means these materials won’t block natural light entry when used for indoor barriers, which can reduce energy usage for lighting.
- Improved thermal performance – green barriers or facades using tensile material supports provide shading and help reduce solar entry into buildings, which can in turn reduce HVAC energy consumption. During the winter green facades can act as a kind of natural insulator as well.
- Complementing renewable energy – Jakob tensile materials are not only recyclable after use, but they are also made from approximately 70% recycled content in facilities that run on solar energy. This can make them very suitable for projects with strong sustainability goals.
Tensile structure applications
Here are some project examples.
Outdoor green wall for a Melbourne school
The restoration of St Kilda Primary School included a green wall boundary for a covered deck in the outdoor play area, using Webnet mesh as a trellis support for the climbing greenery. The finished green wall improves safety, shades the area, and reduces solar entry into the building.
To address climbability, a tighter mesh was used in the lower areas of the wall only, and a larger mesh size above that. This led to reduced material usage and costs.
Green facade for a Sydney mixed-use tower
The green facade installed on the 34-storey One Central Park building is one of the largest in the world, involving the use of over 15,000sqm of vertical tensile cables.
As well as beautifying the building and reducing heating and cooling costs, the facade also contributes to better air quality by absorbing pollutants.
Internal walkway barriers for Melbourne residential building
Priorities for the Albermarle apartment building included longevity, space, natural light, ventilation and solar energy use.
The features of the Webnet barriers contribute to these goals – allowing for natural light and air flow, reduction of waste and high material sustainability.
Rooftop sports court for a Sydney school
Webnet’s excellent span capacity resulted in the rooftop court barriers at St Patrick’s College, requiring fewer supporting poles than otherwise. This led to material and cost savings while meeting full compliance for safety and crowd loads.
Give us a call today to find out more about tensile structures as sustainable design solutions.
